Mr. Ebenezer is a French teacher at the French American Academy in Chandler. He is an excellent and passionate teacher who is grateful to have the honor to educate the next generation, in an environment conducive to growth.

His journey started in 2021, when he arrived in Arizona after winning the immigration lottery from the Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire), Africa. His dream is to create opportunities for his 3 children. His plan was to face the early hardship alone, leaving his children with family to continue their education in a stable environment until he could save enough to have them join him in the US.

His first steps on American soil were difficult. Unable to initially secure employment tied to his education credentials, holding a Master's Degree in French, he took any job he could to earn income. During this time, as a result of his strenuous, physical work and lack of transportation, he suffered a foot injury requiring surgery. As you can imagine, being alone here, and without employer-provided insurance coverage, he was faced with debt from medical bills and lost work. Despite the difficulty, he persevered, developed a network of support, became a part-time French tutor, and eventually secured his position at FrenchAm Academy. While he is progressing towards his goals and has found stability, he is still not covered by health insurance, as the school does not have enough candidates to acquire and offer this benefit to employees. Like many Americans, he earns just enough to be excluded from Medicaid coverage, and as a consequence, he remains uninsured and vulnerable. His health scares continued as he suffered two additional, unforeseen dental and medical emergencies, requiring him to pay the totality of the bills upfront, draining his savings. His medical debt has now grown to $5,860.

 As beneficiaries of his hard work, care, and affection for our children, and admirers of his courage in taking the risk to achieve generational life improvements, we want to help resolve these debts, so he may continue to save, and eventually bring his children to the land of opportunity. This is why we have set up this fundraising to seek contributions from all of you and anyone you think would care to contribute any amount to this cause so personal to us. 

 Thank you for reading, we hope his story inspires you to donate. Every single dollar raised will go directly to Mr. Ebenezer Zeya.